Bathing cap



R. T. BLEsH 2,531,318

BATHING CAP Nov. 21, 1950 Filed Feb. 9. 1948 IN V EN TOR. Pay/volvo Z' zfsf/ Patented Nov. 21, 1950 BATHING CAP Raymond T. Blesh, Wadsworth, Ohio, assignor to Seiberling .Latex Products Co., Akron, Ohio, a

corporation of Ohio Application February 9, 19418, Serial No.. 7,040

(Cl. 2-68l 4 Claims.

s Y This invention relates to a rubber bathing cap and more particularly to means bordering the inner surface of the cap for preventing water from penetrating under the edge of the cap and wetting the wearers hair.

According to this invention, small round suction cups are located near the edge of the cap and these oups are preferably of the same size and joined to each other in a row. `Where the cups touch, the wall separating them may be a common wall no thicker than the wall atl any part of the circumference of the cup. Alternatively, this common Wall may be any thickness up to double the thickness of the remainder of the wall of the cups, or thicker.

Although the cups themselves when arranged in a row, with each cup joined to the cup on each side of it, serve as a barrier to prevent the water from entering under the edge of the cap, supplemental means for excluding the water will ordinarily be employed. According to a preferred embodiment of the invention cups of the same diameter are arranged in a row, joined to one another, and on each side of the row is a thin Wall. and Where they touch the cups, they may blend with the walls of the cups so that there is no increase in the thickness of the wall of the cup, or

the wall may be any thickness up t0 the combined thickness of the two, or thicker. When the cups' are flexed in being pressed to the head of the wearer, the wall is flexed at the same time and the cups draw the wall tightly to the head and prevent water from seeping in the under the edge of the cap. Thus the walls cooperate Vwith the cups, forming small triangles which are drawn to the head by the vacuum cups and aid in excluding the water.

The cups and adiacent walls are ordinarily of the same height. Their Kheight need not be uniform around the entire cap, and usually it will vary, being greater under the ears and being practically nil over the forehead. In fact, the cups and walls may be omitted entirely over the fore- These walls are joined to each of the cups Fig. 5 is a plan of a short section of an alterna- 'tive arrangement using a double line-of cups.

Fig. 1 of the drawings shows the inner surface at the bottom edge of half of the cap i. This extends from the middle of the forehead 2 to the middle of the back of the neck 3. The flap 4 is intended to lie over one of the ears, and is provided with the metal clasp 5 for the attachment of a strap to go under the chin.

In the drawing, the suction cups are all of the same diameter, the diameter being about of van inch. To facilitate the description these cups are designaed by letters instead of by numbers, starting with the cup A and extending to the cup Z. Across the forehead no suction is required. The cap will lie dat against the wearers head and being made of rubber and stretched a little, the cap will form a snug nt which excludes the water without providing special means for this purpose.

In 'the drawing, cups A to F are shown as being only a few thousandths of an inch tall, They are mere shadow cups. The height of the cups increases from G to M. Cups from M to P may be about sse of an inch tall. Then, beginning with Q the height of the cups again decreases down to Z. The several cups on each side of Z may be the same height. It is to be understood that the height of the cups as herein discussed is not an essential feature of the invention and the cups may be made of any desired height.

The walls l5 and l5 which are arranged on opposite sides of the cups, form with the cups the triangles Il, and this arrangement very effectively excludes the Water. As the cups are pressed to the head of the wearer, the walls of the cups atten out and the walls I5 and IB ilatten with the cups, and because these walls are joined to the cups their inner edges are drawn to the head of the wearer and are held there by the cups and effectively aid in excluding the water.

Fig. 3 shows that the walls E5 and I6 are integral with the walls of the cup. There is no thickening of the Walls of the cups where the walls I5 and i6 join with them. Fig. 4 shows that where the cups touch one another there is likewise no thickening of the wall of the cup. The thinner the walls of the cups the more flexible they are. Any common wall, whether it be common to two cups, or to one of the cups and one of the walls I5 and It, need be no thicker than a single wall. Alternatively, the walls may touch just sufficiently to be united. They may even touch without being united, although union of the walls i5 and Ylli with the=cups gives much more effective exclusion of the water than when the walls are not joined to the cups and drawn to the head of the wearer by them.

The walls of the cups may be made sheer, but they preferably spread inwardly at the bottom as illustrated in Fig. 3 and Fig. 4. This increases the tendency of the walls to stand erect and when the cap is worn it increases the tendency of the walls to flatten outwardly, instead of inwardly as pressure is applied. It also increases the tendency of the cups to cling to the head of the wearer when flattened against it.

The walls I5 and I6 and the walls of the cups (above their thickened bases) are very thin, particularly at their inner edge which may, for example, be no more than 12 of an inch. Such thinness facilitates the flattening out of the walls against the head of the wearer and the functioning of the cups as suction cups to hold the cap close to the head around the edge and prevent the entrance of water.

As in all bathing caps, the hair of the wearer may get under the edge of the means for excluding water, and water may thus be permitted to pass under the excluding means and wet the head of the wearer. To aid in preventing such action, a double barrier of cups and tangential walls may be used as illustrated in Fig. 5. The outer row of cups 3i! and inner row 3| are substantially parallel to one another, with walls 32 on each side of the cups 38, and walls 33 on each side of the cups 3|. The walls 32 are the same height as the cups 30 and the walls 33 are the same height as the cups 3|. The cups 33 and 3| may be of the same height although the cups 3| may be a fraction of an inch shorter than the cups 30. Between the two rows of cups and walls is the space 34 in which any water seeping under the outer barrier will collect.

In a still further modification, the two inner walls will be omitted and the cups 30 and 3| willv be in parallel lines with the cups in one line touching those in the other line at a single point. In another modication such an arrangement may be used with the two rows of cups joined tov an intermediate common wall, giving three walls linstead of four as shown in Fig. 5. The arrangement shown in Fig. 5 is preferred, because the formation of the cups necessitates thickening the rubber in places, and such thickening sti'ens the rubber and lessens its tendency to conform to the shape of the head. Stiffening is most noticeable when the cups are small and a large percentage of the surface area of the cap is thickened. Providing a band of substantially the same thickness as the balance of the cap between two areas on which suction cups are provided, as in Fig. 5,

4 facilitates conformance of the cap to the shape of the head. Ordinarily the head of the wearer rounds upwardly where the cups are applied and the band free of cups facilitates conformance of the cap to the shape of this portion of the head.

The invention is defined in the claims which follow.

I claim:

l. A one-piece rubber bathing cap having formed integrally therewith on the inner surface near the border a series of substantially circular cups to hold the cap to the head of the wearer, the walls of the cups being so thin that when the cap is worn the edge of each cup flexes outwardly on contact with the head of the wearer and forms a water seal therewith, adjacent cups being united to one another without intersecting to prevent the passage of water between them, and also formed integrally with the cap a wall located between the edge of the cap and at least a portion of each of the cups, the wall being so thin that when the cap is worn it flexes on contact with the head of the wearer and prevents water from passing thereunder and contacting said portions of the cups.

2. The cap of claim 1 in which said wall unites with but does not intersect the cups whereby a. generally triangular pocket is formed between the wall and each two adjacent cups.

3. The cap of claim 1 in which the bottom of each cup is dished to increase the tendency of the walls of the cups to expand outwardly.

4. The cap of claim l in which the bottom of each cup is dished and the outside surface of each cup is sheer, there being a wall on each side of the series of cups, each wall being united to each cup without intersecting it and being thin so that when the cap is worn it flexes on contact with the head of the wearer and forms a water seal therewith preventing water from passing thereunder and into contact with the cups where they are united to one another, whereby each wall flexes with the cups when the cap is worn.

RAYMOND T. BLESH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,771,178 Howland July 22, 1930 2,119,498 Spanel May 31, 1938 u 2,131,344 Crowley Sept. 27, 1938 2,192,837 Lusk Mar. 5, 1940 2,285,659 Howland June 9, 1942 

